Not a whole lot of residential areas in the Kenai, you'll see, plus who wants to be by them anyway?
Good thing is plenty of NF, BLM, State, County-City and Wilderness areas to camp. Best to always ask if unsure.

Places like Centennial Campground, https://soldotna.org/departments/parks-and-recreation/parks-amenities/centennial-park just outside of Soldotna are a trick to see-find but are around, ask locals when in town. It's a nice place to camp if the Salmon are running, big Kings, plus you can walk into town. It is close to town so you can get a few losers/drunks at time around the campground,no big deal just be aware. Don't forget about Anchor Point.

Avoid any private land, some of those folks like it off the grid for a reason.............

IMO, both Fairbanks and Anchorage are boring and overall ugly places, no real reason to stay. Get your rental and supplies and goooooo.

Don't know when you land but consider getting out of Anchorage straight away, hitchhike or train down to Girdwood, way more pleasant and in your in nature. Plus your right on Turnagain Arm and might get lucky and see a good size Bore Tide, really cool to see.

The entire state is amazing but 2 places not mentioned much are the Haul Road to at least Coldfoot, amazing remote killer scenic country and McCarthy-Wrangell St. Elias NP and the road to the tiny town of McCarthy, fantastic scenery and tons of wildlife.

If you decide make sure your vehicle is allowed on gravel roads, they are available. Also might check into 4x4 truck camper rentals, good way to explore the state. Transport and lodging in one, plus you can get off road...... about the same cost as a car rental and regular lodging.

By the way, if you head down to Seward about 6 miles south of Moose Pass off Hwy.9 is Trail River Campground, about a half hour before Seward. Nice little campground on Kenai Lake, fun hiking along the lake, few people. Camp away from the lake if you do, too cold by it, even in summer.

Merhaba!
Thank you so much for your tips. I don't know how I've only read your post now.
I've never been to Turkey but I did volunteer in refugee camps in Greece and met some wonderful people with very sad stories, so I don't really fall into stereotypes regarding immigrants - I guess there are good and bad people everywhere, so it is as you say - best not to stereotype.
I'll definitely check out Kadiköy! It's refreshing to hear the experiences of another woman in Turkey. I don't feel very safe hitchhiking alone, so I think I'll try to rely on public transportation.
Never thought about the date rape pills, but I guess I always try to be careful anywhere I go. I guess unfortunately as a woman you alway shave to think about this kind of stuff...
Thanks for the advice!

For Easter Island, you can visit most sites by hiking or biking. You may want to rent a car for one day for the sites (and beaches) on the other side of the island, although I hitchhiked there successfully. In that way, you need 3 days to see it all.
There are lots of multiday hikes in Chile. 300 hikes and treks are described in Spanish on the wikiexplora website. The best hiking is from Santiago southwards in the Andes. Torres del PAine in the extreme South is very touristy (and expensive, and you must book in advance). But there are excellent treks not that far South such as (only examples) the Decabezado Grande BC / Circuito del Condor, Valle de Aguas Calientes, Villarica NP traverse, Puyehue NP traverse, ... The season ends mid April.

That's not true at all. There are free hitchhiking traditions in many different places. It depends on who ends up picking you up, of course. And who you are too. Some people want to extend a certain hospitality to foreign tourists, say, even if they'd expect locals to pay.

Here in East Asia, free hitchhiking is certainly the norm. In fact I've often had people who gave me rides buy me meals as well, and absolutely refuse any payment.

In the Sahara once, I almost hitched a camel. The camel stopped, and offered me a ride, but I was worried that my backpack and I would be too much extra weight for it, and so I let him amble on without me.

December 2018 we did Nongkhai - Chiang Khan

From the Nongkhai bus station you will still find the old green and "white" bus (70's style!). Departures are indicated at 7:30 am, 11 am and 3 pm.
The one at 7:30 was not working so we waited for the one at 11. I don't know about the 3pm one but I am not sure it works. Seems only the 11 am bus was working this day (or ever?).
From Nongkhai you will go to Pakchom for 90 baths. It will take around 3h30/4h because it stops in almost every little village. Be sure to come early at the bus station to be able to choose your seat because some of them are not very comfortable (euphemism). But the trip with locals was nice.

From Pakchom there is still no direct connection to Chiang Khan. So you have several choices :

• take the public big songtheo from the bus station to BanThat etc. as explain above (50 baths the first songtheo, cheap and long).
• sometimes you can deal with one of the 70's bus driver to drive you to Chiang Khan with his car parked in PakChom(but he has to go and come back so it is expensive, he asked us 900 baths)
• take a "moto taxi" from Pakchom asking around (about 200 baths)
• hitchhike!

We were two people with our bagpacks so we decided to try hitchhiking. We created a cardboard in Pakchom bus station (there are shop every where around where you can find what you need). Took us 5 minutes before someone stopped and drive us to Chiang Khan. 20 minutes later, we were there!
Just remember to write Chiang Khan in Latin letters AND thaï letters.

Those were the latest news from the Nongkhai - Chiang Khan possibilities...
Sorry for my English! Hope this is useful.

Not about the trip but good to know : during the National Day and New year holidays, Chiang Khan is crowded by thaï tourists. Be sure to book before! Otherwise no need for booking.

I don’t know about vans, but when I was in Western Sahara this winter I spoke with a number of elderly Europeans who rented caravans in Casablanca. The tradition used to be just driving your own caravan down from Europe, and most retirees still do that, but apparently there are now firms in Casablanca that will rent you a caravan locally.

However, if the OP is a hitchiker and shoestring traveler in general as his pic suggests, then caravan prices are likely to be too high (and they drink a lot of petrol), so I guess this option wouldn’t be a suitable replacement for shoestring vandwelling.

Whatever, people who complain how expensive Argentina and Chile are ....they are ignoring how much more other places in the world like ... South Africa, Russia ... are.

I have cycled or hitchhiked across SA, Russia, and Argentina and I actually spent much less money in South Africa and Russia than in Argentina. In Russia especially a backpacker can cut his lodging expenses almost to nothing through hospitality-exchange networks. I found food cheaper in South Africa than in Argentina (though it may be that the rand was especially low during my trip there). When I was in Argentina just over two years ago, the prices of everything seemed invariably high (and the quality of food and other goods very low) even if the country’s economy was a basketcase. For me, Argentina definitely deserves a reputation as a tough place to travel on a budget even for backpackers.

I also don't think you wrote enough about the risks of hitchhiking, particularly for women. Here is a thread about Jenny Chen, a traveler to Mexico who went missing last year while hitchhiking: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/americas-mexico/mexico/seattle-woman-missing-while-hitchhiking-from-oaxaca-to-cancun?page=1#post_22074793

I'm planning on going to China for 2 months, and I'm wondering how easily accessible bus transportation is, especially for a non mandarin/cantonese speaker.

Transport is pretty easy via train once you get the hang of it, even if you dont speak Chinese.

Buses are a little more complicated
Hitchiking will be very tough without speaking the language, and as 889 points out, is rarely practicle

I'm planning on the following itinerary for my 2 months there:
Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing, Luoyang, Huashan Mountain, Xian, Zhangjiajie, Fenghuang, Longsheng, Yangshou, Guangzhou, Macau, Hong Kong, Xiamen, back to Shanghai

Would be a shame not to do Beijing.

Some of these locations are among China's most expensive. Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai(2x) and Guangzhou.... HK and Macau are even more expensive. Fenghuang and Zhangjiajie have expensive entrance tickets

Going to HK and Macau means you will need a double entry visa.

Is this a realistic route for 2 months? Am I missing any important places to visit along that route? Would bus transportation between any of these locations be difficult? I don't mind 20 hour bus rides, I'm just wondering if they're easy for English speaking tourists to find. I'm probably going to take the train for the larger stretches like Xiamen to Shanghai, but I want to travel on a shoestring budget so I'd prefer to bus the vast majority of the time. I also hear it's hard to get by in China without speaking the native language- is this true?

Hard seat trains are almost always cheaper and more comfortable than equivalent buses. The difference is that buses can be booked the day before or the day off, while trains often sell out. Dont plan on taking buses for any of your trip, use them as an alternative when the train sells out.

Is it also necessary to pre-book hostel stays? I hear as a Canadian, in order to get a visa I have to have everything booked before they'll let me in the country.

Getting the visa and actually travelling are 2 entirely different things.

But i'd book a hostel/hotel the day before I arrive. Chinese cities are huge and unless you are just walking around the train station looking at grubby by the hour establishments you are going to need to take the subway/bus/taxi to the hostel/hotel's location.
Also you get better prices booking online.

Oh, that`s good news!

Did not know that shared taxis ply the route.

But will do a bit of hitchhiking anyways because I like it so much.